


A Heart of Bone

by AmraAmma



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, F/M, First Time So Please Don't Hate Me, M/M, Other, Racism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2018-10-23 00:22:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10708263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmraAmma/pseuds/AmraAmma
Summary: You recently dumped your boyfriend, and were just last night chased by the drunken bastard. You wake up in a house full of... well... skeletons. On top of all that, your boss is a jerk, and you're just a few mistakes away from being fired. Everything just looks like it's going down a pit of despair and won't get better... or will it?





	1. Skeleton House

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Strike A Chord](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5387150) by [LilyHellsing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilyHellsing/pseuds/LilyHellsing). 



You open your eyes. You blink once or twice, trying to make sense of your surroundings. You don’t recognize the room you’re in. You sit up in a car bed. You don’t know where you are, why you’re here, and whose room you’re in.

You try to remember what had happened before you fell asleep. You remember running from someone. Your ex! Your abusive ex was drunk and had been chasing you! Well, there's another good reason why you decided to dump him. You realized there was an intense pain in your ankle, and you remember you had tripped over something and had fallen into a ditch or something. You had blacked out after that, but right before you went completely unconscious, you remember seeing an orange-ish glow. You wonder what that could have been. Your next thought is that maybe your ex had taken him to his home, but then again, you've been there before, and this place looks nothing like it. You check to see if you’re still dressed, and you’re surprised to find not only are you still wearing all your clothes, but you are also wearing a red scarf.

“Where did this come from?” you ask yourself. You hold the end of the scarf in your hand. The fabric is worn, but soft. It smells faintly of spaghetti sauce, for some reason. You try to stand up, completely forgetting your ankle. Once you stand, you immediately fall back down, writhing in pain. You hear heavy footsteps quickly coming up stairs, then the door opens. A… a skeleton runs through the open door.

“HUMAN!” the skeleton says, in a worried tone. “YOU SHOULD NOT BE WALKING WITH YOUR ANKLE LIKE THAT! YOU WILL BREAK IT FURTHER!” 

The skeleton had startled you a little. It had completely slipped your mind about the whole monsters coming to the surface thing. You realize you had stopped breathing, then it really sunk in that he is a skeleton. A real skeleton. You faint.

When you wake up again, there is a damp towel on your forehead, and a plate of spaghetti on a table next to you. And the skeleton, at a table on the far side of the room, writing on something. The skeleton picks it up, then turns your way.

“OH!” the skeleton says, surprised. “YOU’RE AWAKE!” It looks down at the piece of paper folded in half that was in it’s hands, then says, “CAN YOU PRETEND TO BE ASLEEP SO I CAN PUT THIS NEXT TO YOUR SPAGHETTI THEN LEAVE?”

“...What?” you ask in confusion. This skeleton seems not only alive, but also polite, caring, and it seems to have a certain bit of innocence. Nothing like what you had expected would come from a living skeleton.

“NEVERMIND,” it says. “I’LL JUST PUT IT HERE AND LEAVE SO I DO NOT SCARE YOU ANYMORE.” It sets the folded paper, which looks a bit like a card, on the table the spaghetti was on, then leaves.

You pick up the card. It has a very poorly drawn skeleton(?) or something on it, and over the drawing, there is the word 'SORRY written. You open the card. It says, 'I’M SORRY FOR SCARING YOU. MY NAME IS PAPYRUS, AND I WOULD LIKE TO TRY TO BE YOUR FRIEND. HOWEVER, IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO BE MY FRIEND, THEN I COMPLETELY RESPECT YOUR DECISION, SINCE YOU FAINTED AT THE SIGHT OF ME.' You close the card and turn it over, to see if there is anything else. On the back it says, 'AND IF IT MEANS ANYTHING, I CAUGHT THE ALCOHOL-INFLUENCED MAN THAT WAS CHASING YOU, AND TURNED HIM INTO THE POLICE. I WASN’T SURE IF HE HAD INTENT TO HARM YOU OR NOT, BUT YOU HAD BEEN RUNNING AWAY FROM HIM, SO I ASSUMED HE MEANT WRONG.'

You stare blankly at the card. The skeleton... No. Papyrus… had saved you from your ex. You look at the scarf around your neck again. 'Maybe this is Papyrus’s,' you think to yourself. Papyrus had been kind, polite, innocent, and most of all, brave for being able to face your ex when he was drunk. It occurs to you that Papyrus’s voice sounded pretty masculine, so that probably means that Papyrus is male. It also just feels wrong to call Papyrus an ‘it’ any more, because he seemed to be like an actual sweet person, despite being just a skeleton. He had helped you. No, he had SAVED you. And he wants to be your friend. And he is sorry for scaring you. And you had been frightened only by the fact that he was a skeleton. You feel terrible for judging him solely by his looks.

You look at the spaghetti. You pick up the plate and sniff it. It doesn’t smell great, but it doesn’t smell terrible either. It doesn’t seem to surprise you, since he was a skeleton, and probably had no sense of smell or taste. You take a bite. It’s not good, but it’s not bad. You could keep it down, and it didn’t try to come back up.  
You notice that there is a piece of paper under where the plate of spaghetti was. You pick it up and read it. 'MY BROTHER SAYS THIS IS MY BEST PLATE OF SPAGHETTI YET, SO I HOPE YOU LIKE IT!' There is another skeleton. Probably in this house. And if two brothers are living together, then there is probably also a parent with them, so there is probably at least one more skeleton living in this house.  
Then it dawned on you that the note said this is his best plate of spaghetti. Meaning he has made spaghetti multiple times, and the ones he made before were probably a lot worse than this plate. You appreciate the rest of the spaghetti a lot more.

You wonder how you should tell Papyrus that you are no longer afraid of him. Shouting seems like a bad idea. Waiting for him to come back in feels kind of rude. You decide to take a closer look at your right ankle. It’s bandaged up, and it has a splint on it. The bandages have a red spot on them. You try to see if you can move your foot a little, but a shot of pain hits your ankle like a sledgehammer.

“Ow!” you cry out, in pain.

“HUMAN?!” Papyrus calls through the door. “ARE YOU OKAY?! YOU DIDN’T TRY TO STAND ON THAT ANKLE AGAIN, DID YOU?! I’M COMING IN, OKAY?” He opens the door carefully.

“No, I’m fine,” you reassure Papyrus. “I just- OW!” The red spot on the bandages gets a little bit bigger. Papyrus comes to your ankle, and takes off his red gloves.

“PLEASE DO NOT PANIC,” he says. “I’M JUST GOING TO HEAL YOU A BIT WITH MY MAGIC, OKAY?” He gently places his hands on your ankle. His eye sockets begin to glow orange a little, and orange light begins to come from his palms. You watch, wide-eyed and filled with awe. Your ankle feels pleasantly warm for a second, then the pain numbs.

“Woah,” you breathe out. “That… was so cool.”

Papyrus’s face brightens up. “YOU REALLY THINK SO?” he exclaims.

“Can… can you show me more?”

“OF COURSE, HUMAN!” Papyrus bounces excitedly. “I WILL GLADLY SHOW YOU MORE MAGIC!” Papyrus puts his gloves back on, and holds his hand out, palm pointing down. He lifts his hand, and floating bones appear around him. He moves his hands around, and the floating bones form the words 'COOL DUDE'.

You sit in silent awe. “Can you do anything else?” you ask.

“WELL OF COURSE!” Papyrus booms. He raises his hand, as if he was waiting to be called on, and a giant floating dragon-looking skull appears behind him. It’s … It’s … Absolutely adorable.

You gasp. “It's so cute!”

“NYEH?” Papyrus says in confusion. “IT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE THAT CUTE. HMM…” He pokes the giant skull. It pushes into his hand and nuzzles it. “NYEH?! THAT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN! WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU?” Papyrus inspects the skull in confusion.

You try your best not to squeal. Somehow, you succeed in not squealing. Instead, you grin like an idiot. The dragon skull notices you smiling… you think. It pushes past Papyrus and floats toward you. It suddenly shrinks and grows a small skeletal dragon body, and drops onto your stomach.

You expected it to be a lot heavier, but then again, it’s a skeleton. You can’t hold back your squeal this time. The skele-dragon, as you have mentally dubbed it, walks up to your face and snuggles it.

“WH-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!” Papyrus panics a little. “WHO TOLD YOU TO DO THAT?! IS THIS ANOTHER ONE OF SANS’S PRANKS?” You can’t help but smile at Papyrus a little.

“It’s okay,” you reassure Papyrus. “I think it’s better for it to act like this so I’m not as frightened by it.” The skele-dragon curls up by your left shoulder and falls asleep. 'It’s even cuter when it’s sleeping!' you think to yourself.  
“HM…” Papyrus inspects the skele-dragon. “WELL, YOU DO HAVE A GOOD POINT.” He gently pets the skele-dragon’s head.

You realize there’s a little orange dusting his face. This must be how skeletons blush. He was embarrassed by the skele-dragon coming out like this. It dawns on you that Papyrus looks… kinda cute. You feel your face get a little warm. Papyrus looks up at your face, and the orange deepens a little. He straightens up.

“I, UM… I JUST REMEMBERED I HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO DO,” he stutters. He turned and went to leave the room. You suddenly remember the thing you wanted to tell him.

“Wait,” you call out to him. “I wanted to tell you… I would like to be your friend. And… I liked your spaghetti.”  
Papyrus turns back to you with a little orange still dusting his cheekbones, and smiles. Somehow. “AND WHAT IS YOUR NAME…?” he asks you. You tell him. “HM, IS IT OKAY IF I STILL CALL YOU HUMAN?” He asks.

“Sure,” you say. “Why the heck not.” He nods happily, and leaves the room, looking a bit happier.

You sit up in the bed again, and pet the skele-dragon. You half-expected it to disappear once Papyrus left the room, since he was the one who summoned it, but there it remained. You decide to name it, at least until it disappeared.

“I wonder what you were supposed to do,” you wonder out loud. It looks up and shoots out a little lazer, startling you. It left a little scorch mark on the wall.

You try to see if you can wipe it off, because you really didn’t want you or the little lazer-light-show next to you damaging anything in Papyrus’s room. It easily comes off with a quick wipe.

“Huh,” you say to yourself. “Must be the material.” The skele-dragon you have not named yet hops onto your lap and attempts to climb up onto your head. You laugh.

“What’cha doin’ there, bones?” you jokingly say to the skele-dragon. “Hey, that’s not a half-bad name. What do you think of it, Bones?”

Bones gave up on climbing to your head, and instead made motions suggesting that it wanted you to pick it up. You lift Bones up, and it spreads it’s bony wings. You’re not sure if it will be able to fly, so you are a little concerned about Bones’s behaviour. It jumps off of you and flaps it’s wings, and luckily, through some strange magic, it flies. It lands back on your lap, being wary of your hurt ankle.

“Had a good fly around the room, Bones?” you ask Bones, jokingly. In response, Bones snuggles up on your lap. “I’ll take that as a yes,” you chuckle.

You suddenly hear a door opening and closing downstairs. You hear Papyrus talking, and another male voice talking back to him. You can’t quite tell what they’re saying, but it seems like Papyrus is a little annoyed by the person who just walked in. The second person seems to move up some stairs, and you can hear a little better what they’re saying.

“bro i swear i didn’t do anything,” the second voice chuckles. “but i will admit, i’m kind of disappointed in myself for not thinking of it.”

“IF YOU DIDN’T DO ANYTHING, THEN WHO ELSE COULD POSSIBLY ALTER WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE AND HOW IT ACTS?” Papyrus asks.

“uh, you,” the second voice says.

“WHY WOULD I SABOTAGE MY OWN BLASTER?!” Papyrus boomed. “SANS, YOU ARE MAKING ABSOLUTELY NO SENSE!”

“maybe you did it in your sleep,” the individual apparently known as Sans says. “or you’re in lo-”

“NO I AM NOT AND YOU KNOW IT!” Papyrus interrupts, sounding kind of embarrassed.

“yeah, sure you’re not,” Sans teases. You hear footsteps walking past the door, then another door opening, then closing.

Was he going to say ‘love?’ you think to yourself. You feel your face get warmer. You brush away the thought and try to keep your mind on something else. Your mind automatically goes to your ex. It occurs to you that he didn’t seem angry that night. Definitely drunk, but not angry. In fact, when he had called out your name, at the time it sounded like he was angry, but now that you really think about it, he seemed surprised, even scared. You find yourself wondering why.

Then something else comes to mind. It’s Monday. You work on Mondays. Your boss is an a-hole who won’t take any excuse for being late or absent from work. You hear a knock on the door.

“HUMAN, I’M COMING IN OKAY?” Papyrus calls through the door. The door opens, and Papyrus steps through. His face is still a little orange. “HUMAN, I KNOW YOU CAN’T STAY HERE FOREVER, SO I GOT A CRUTCH FOR YOU SO THAT YOU MAY WALK FROM PLACE TO PLACE WITH EASE!” Papyrus holds up the crutch he has. He helps you up and onto the crutch. You then remember you are still wearing his scarf. You take it off with your free hand.

“Here,” you say, holding the scarf for Papyrus to take. “This is yours, right?”

“AH, RIGHT,” Papyrus said, taking the scarf. “I COMPLETELY FORGOT I HAD PUT THAT ON YOU.” He puts the scarf around his own neck. “I’D HATE TO JUST KICK YOU OUT, BUT I’M CERTAIN YOU HAVE IMPORTANT PLACES TO BE AT AND IMPORTANT THINGS TO DO.”

“Thanks, Papyrus,” you say. “You’ve been a huge help.” Papyrus blushes a bit again, then helps you down the stairs to the front door. You both say goodbye, and you go on your way. You hope you can meet with him again.


	2. "Sans" Normality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Racism, stupidity, and hatred galore! You sincerely hope the worst of it is over! Though, to be honest, the best has already started.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, Alice, for the suggestion! It was super helpful when writing this!

“Really, the excuse for today is just ridiculous,” your boss says, rubbing his temple. “You broke your ankle while being chased in the woods, but a MONSTER saved you?”

“Um, a skeleton, sir,” you correct him.

“Oh, yes, a SKELETON,” he says sarcastically. “That makes it sooo much more believable. You’re REALLY supporting your case here.” He sighs. “This is your final warning. If you’re late one more time, I’m firing you,” he huffs. He turns around and heads for his office.

“I was only six minutes late,” you mumble to yourself. You sigh and head over to your work station.

You’re glad that they recently added chairs into customer service. You could finally have time to rest your good leg from having all your weight on it. It was a little difficult getting into your uniform at home, but you managed. The day has begun, and Customer Service is open. The first dozen or so people to come to Customer Service seem to just be trying to get free items in compensation of the “terrible service and rude attitudes of the staff.” To be completely honest, you really just want to clobber them with your crutch, but remembering who gave it to you really makes you calm down. It’d be terrible to dent or bloody a gift someone gave to you.

“Hey, lady!” a customer yells, coming up to your area, which already has a long line of people you need to help first. “I want a refund for this!” He holds up a small pack of gum.

“Of course,” you say, sweetly. “Right after I help out all these people who have been patiently waiting for a turn.” The woman you are helping out right now is trying to return a jug of milk that has an incorrect expiration date on it that’s off by two weeks.

“Is a lady who was too stupid to realize she was buying spoiled milk really more important than me?!” he yells, waving around the small package of gum.

“First off,” the man behind the woman says, stepping forward, “The expiration date was wrong. It’s not this nice woman’s fault for not knowing it was expired. Secondly, yes. She is more important than you, because unlike you, she and a dozen or so people were actually waiting patiently in line. If you would just go to the end of the line, you will eventually be helped. You and your tiny pack of gum can wait.” The man, silent, shuffles to the end of the line. You finish helping the woman in front, then give the man behind her a complimentary coupon for being such a great person, as is company policy. Greg, one of your coworkers by the checkout, calls your name.

“Yeah?” you call to him.

“You think you could help me out with this?” he calls back to you. Janet, the other coworker at Customer Service, gives you the thumbs up to leave.

“Sure,” you say, getting up. You walk over, and find a customer throwing a fit and yelling insults… at a skeleton. A short skeleton wearing a blue hoodie.

“Are you okay, um, sir?” you say, coming over to the skeleton.

“yeah,” he says. “for now, at least.” You recognize his voice from somewhere. He looks down at your name tag. “huh, i guess you're the one i'm looking for,” he says. “papyrus asked me to check on you. the name’s sans. i'm his brother.”

“I'd hate to cut your meeting short, but would you mind helping?!” Greg gasps, trying his best to hold the woman back.

“Demon!” she screams. “Vile creature! Go back into the underground where you belong!” She continues to hurl insults at him as she swings her purse menacingly.

“Ma’am, please calm down,” you say, trying to resolve this with as little violence as possible.

“I won't calm down until that THING is kicked out of the store!” she yells, pointing at Sans.

“What the hell is going on here!” your boss says, storming towards you.

‘It's about time,’ you say in your head. Immediately, the woman points at Sans again.

“You need to kick out that monster, or I will never shop here again!” she yells. Normally, your boss would kick out the person causing the trouble, but this time is different. Your boss is also against the monsters coming to the surface.

“Of course, ma'am,” he says, and without a moment's hesitation, turns to Sans, and says, “I'm going to have to ask you to leave.”

You and Greg stare in shock and disbelief. Greg reluctantly lets go of the woman, and she huffs and stomps away. Sans shrugs and starts walking toward the exit.

“No,” you say. Sans stops in his tracks, and your boss looks at you.

“Excuse me?” your boss says.

“I said, no,” you say, a bit louder. “You will either kick that woman out for her behaviour and allow this kind sir to stay, or I quit, and tell the police why you kicked out a person for being assaulted.” Your boss stares at you in shock. After a minute of silence, you speak again.

“Fine. Suit yourself.” You pull off your name tag and hand it to your boss. “I didn't like this place anyway.” You walk out without saying another word, and Sans follows close behind.

“thanks for standing up for me,” he says, once you both are out of the building. “pity you lost your job, though.” He pauses, then looks up at you. *dang he’s short* “you did have a backup job, right?” he says, with a mixture of worry and mild amusement in his voice. “please tell me you didn’t throw away your only option.”

“O-of course I didn’t!” you say, trying to think of SOMETHING you did recently that had something to do with getting a new job. You can’t think of any, but there’s always the choice of asking your parents for money until you can get another job. You really hope it doesn’t come to that.

“you want me to help you with some options?” Sans sighs. “‘cuz i know someone who owns a bar and is currently looking for employees. he’s a monster too, just so you know. he’s been having trouble hiring up here since not many humans are okay with working for monsters, much less fire.” Your need for a job outweighs your pride and unwillingness to admit you literally have no other options.

“Eh, sure- wait, did you say fire?” you say, completely getting off track. Something else suddenly comes to mind. “Also, how did you know where I worked?”

“paps said he remembered seeing you once around there,” sans explained, nonchalantly. “apparently he had a better experience than what i had.” He chuckled. “as for the fire bit, my monster friend that owns the bar is literally fire. don’t worry, the worst he’ll burn someone is telling them that they have awful taste in everything.” You burst out laughing, being reminded of a comic you had read once.

“He sounds like he’s got a really -fiery- personality!” you laugh. Sans’s smile brightens.

“well, at least he’s not too -hot- tempered!”

“I don’t know why people don’t want to work for him. He sounds really -hot-!”

“so hot he’s -flaming-!” You both burst into booming laughter. You realize you both have just been standing on the corner of the parking lot.

“Hey,” you say, after you have finally stopped laughing. “Did you drive here, or something?”

“nah,” Sans responds. “i took a shortcut.”

‘From what I know, he and Papyrus live at least thirteen miles away from here,’ you think to yourself. ‘How could he find a shortcut that cuts down walking enough? Even I had to take the bus!’ Sans apparently has already guessed what you’re thinking.

“a maaaagical shortcut,” he says, doing a sparkly effect with his hands. You look at him, confused. He doesn’t seem to feel like explaining any more. “did you drive?” he asks.

“No, I took the bus. My car’s in the shop.”

“if you tell me where you live, i could probably take you home myself. it’d be a heck of a lot faster, and cheaper too.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“yup.” You tell him the name of the apartment building you live in. He offers his hand, and you take it. You both take one step, and suddenly you’re there.

“…H-huh…?” you look around, confused.

“pretty fast shortcut, eh?” Sans chuckles. “pretty dang magical.” He looks at his watch, which you hadn’t noticed. “welp, i best be off. see ya soon, i hope.” And with that, he disappeared.

Still dazed, you head into your apartment building. Once in your apartment, you change out of your work clothes, being wary of your ankle. After changing into a tank-top and sweatpants, you make yourself a cup of coffee and an egg on toast. After eating your food, you take the rest of your coffee over to one of the comfy chairs by the clear sliding door to your balcony. As you sip your coffee, you stare at the pigeons outside the door wistfully. Suddenly, you see a strange looking dog on the top of the roof of the building across the street. You wonder how it got up there, and what type it is. You put down the empty cup and slide open the glass door, stepping out on the balcony. The dog moves, and something raises from its back. The things on it’s back start flapping up and down, and it lifts up off the roof and, to your surprise (as if this wasn’t surprising enough), starts flying towards you. As it gets closer, you realize it’s made of bones.

“Bones!” you call out excitedly, extending your free arm. Bones flies happily to you, and adjusts itself so it’s on your shoulder. “I missed ya, buddy!” you say, snuggling the little bone-dragon-thingy. Bones yips with excitement as it nuzzles you. You waddle your way inside, and set yourself and Bones onto a comfy chair. Once you are sitting, Bones gently slips onto your lap.

“How’d you find me, Bones?” you ask, jokingly. Bones makes sniffling sounds as it pushes its snout into your stomach. “Followed my scent, eh?” you chuckle. “You’re pretty smart, aintcha?” Bones makes little purring sounds while laying content in your lap. You pet Bones’s skull, and hear a low rumbling coming from it. You realize that it’s purring, and try really hard not to squeal.

You hear a knock on the door. Bones perks up and hops off your lap so you can get up. You grab your crutch and head on over to the door. You hadn’t expected any packages or visitors today. You open the door, and see Sans, only, his hood is up, he’s wearing longer pants, and he’s wearing gloves with bone patterns on them.

“hey,” he says, giving a little wave. “forgot to give this to you.” He pulls out a slip of paper with some numbers on it. “it’s papyrus’s number. he forgot to give it to you. he’d also like to know your number.”

“Oh, okay,” you say, taking the slip of paper. “I think I’ve got a pen somewhere. Why don’t you come in while I find one?” You move to the side to let Sans through. He steps in, and you close the door after him. “You can go sit in a chair over there if you want,” you say, gesturing over to the comfy chairs. Sans shrugs and moves over to them.

“huh,” he says, looking at one of the chairs. “didn’t know you could make mini blaster dragons.” Bones climbed up to the top of the chair it was on to get a better look at Sans, even though it had to look down at him when it was up there (so dang short).

“I can’t,” you say, finally spotting a pen. “That’s the one Papyrus showed me, and it still hasn’t disappeared. That’s normal, right?”

“no,” Sans said, clearly impressed. “they’re not supposed to last this long. looks like this one became completely independent. i can’t see any magical connection coming from it at all.” He paused for a moment. “did you name it?” he chuckled.

“Yeah,” you say, grabbing a piece of paper. “I named it Bones. Say hi, Bones!” Bones made a squeaky, raspy sound that you could only describe as a dragon trying to speak people.

You write down your phone number on the slip of paper you found, and looked on the back to make sure you didn’t accidentally write it on the same slip of paper that had Papyrus’s number.

“Oh, I meant to ask you,” you say, as you hand Sans the slip of paper. “Why were you covering up more than before?”

“apparently, being a skeleton makes people nervous,” he said, stuffing the paper in his pocket. “covering up gives off the illusion of at least being not completely bones. welp, see ya.” And with that, he disappeared. Second time he’s done it, and you feel like you’ll never get used to it. You move over to the comfy chair you were in before, and sit down again. Bones hops right back onto your lap.

“You’re pretty special, eh Bones?” you chuckle, lightly scratching Bones’s head. Bones stands up and presents it’s chest. A white gem in the shape of an upside down heart you hadn’t noticed before is embedded in Bones’s sternum. You gently touch it, and it gives off a faint glow.

“...Really special.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The comic referenced is here --> https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/hphotos-xfa1/t51.2885-15/s640x640/sh0.08/e35/11887286_1489530091361789_1850221965_n.jpg
> 
> It is part of a strip from the comic Bluechair that can be found on Webtoon. If you have never read it, I sincerely suggest reading it. It's just so gooooooooood. (in my opinion)


	3. Smiling Mask

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry I haven't updated in so long! To be completely honest, I forgot I had this. To make up for taking so long, I've got two chapters this time, which includes this one and the next. Sorry if it's really short, I've got a lot on my plate.

Your new boss, Grillby, was more than happy to hire you. He even let you wait until your leg was fully healed before starting your first day. You've been working at Grillby's for about a month now, and you've loved every minute of it.

The regular customers that come almost every day are mostly monsters, and they're so polite and tip very well! The worst you've gotten is the occasional customer who's decided to get piss drunk at the bar and has to be picked up by a relative or friend. Those people, however, end up coming back the next day and apologizing for their behavior, and end up leaving an exceptionally large tip.

However, the most regular of the customers has to be Sans. He not only comes every day, but usually more than once per day. You've noticed he puts practically everything in his tab, and drinks ketchup like there's no tomorrow. Like, not even putting it on his food, just… drinking it. Straight from the bottle. Today, however, is a little different.

Sometimes, when he has bad days, he orders another kind of drink. He never drinks much of it, but he seems to be more of a lightweight. After just a shot of even the weak stuff, he's a little tipsy. Sometimes, on really bad days, sans doesn't even have to order anything. Grillby just knows. Sans's expression never changes, but you're starting to figure out how to read him. He tells more light-hearted jokes when he's upset, and he usually chuckles half-heartedly after them when he's really upset. However, when he's really down, he barely says anything. Today, he walks in silent. Grillby's flame flickers a little in surprise just before he prepares Sans's drink, which today happens to be a shot of watered down vodka. Sans sits down, and Grillby places the drink in front of him.

You place a customer's order in front of them as you ponder what happened to Sans to make him so down. As you pass by him to grab the next orders, you notice him down the whole shot in one gulp. Immediately, Grillby brings out a bottle of ketchup and another shot of watered down vodka. You almost stop in surprise. Sans usually drinks his shot slowly, and never asks for another. You glance at Grillby, and you can tell by the flicker of his flames that he's seen this maybe only once or twice before. You grab the next platter of food and drinks to give to the customers that ordered them. As you go around, you notice some of the regular monsters eyeing Sans worriedly. You overhear a hushed conversation from some of the dogs.

“When was the last time he walked in like that?” one of them asks.

“I’m not sure,” another whispers. “I think it might have been just before the human came.”

“Is this the second or third time it's happened?” another smoking a dog treat asks. The rest shrug and look over at Sans with worried looks.

'What could have happened?' you wonder. After setting down all the orders in their correct spots, you come back to the bar. You almost drop your empty tray in surprise as you see tears trickling down Sans's boney cheeks. And the surprises keep coming, as Grillby speaks for the first time you've heard.

“He is fine, Sans,” he says, his smokey voice barely audible. “It's past the point of possibility. Frisk promised they wouldn't reset anymore, right?”

“yeah, i know,” Sans mumbles. “doesn't make it any less vivid, though.”

“I know it hurts, but you need to stay strong. For his sake, if not yours.”

“i'm trying, grilb.”

“I know, Sans. I'm just trying to help.” After a few moments of silence, Grillby asks, “Would you like me to call Papyrus to pick you up when you're ready to go home?”

“yeah,” Sans sighs. “i'd like that.”

“Will you tell him this time?”

“it’d be better if i don't. i’d just cause more problems if i told him.” You decide that's enough sticking your nose in other people's business. You want to help Sans through whatever's going on, but at the same time, you really feel like this isn't something you should interfere with.

A few hours pass. Four empty shot glasses sit next to Sans. His ketchup, only half finished. It's late. Most of the customers have left. Grillby goes over to the phone and dials a number. A few seconds later, he hangs up without saying a word. Grillby writes down all the things Sans got on a slip of paper and places it in a box labeled 'Sans’s Tab', and quickly removes all the shot glasses. About five or six minutes later, Papyrus walks through the door.

“OH! HUMAN! YOU WORK HERE?” he asks, spotting you cleaning a table. You nod. Papyrus looks over to Sans and sighs. He walks over to him and picks him up. “I'M SORRY, GRILLBY,” he says, but Grillby puts his hand up, silently reassuring it's alright. Papyrus nods and positions Sans on his back in a piggyback position. When positioned like this, Sans looks like a tuckered out little kid, as opposed to a very short, very drunk, full grown man… skeleton… person. Papyrus apologizes again, and exits. After an hour or two, the last of the customers have left, and your shift has ended. You leave. Usually, on your drive home, Bones meets you about halfway. Today, however, he stayed home like you told him. However, before you head home, you take a quick stop at a monster bookstore.

“Heya, Bones!” you say, walking through the front door of your apartment once you get home. “Have you been a good Blaster Dragon?” Bones jumps up excitedly and flies over to you. “Haha, I think I'll take that as a yes!” Bones chirps excitedly as it hops around your feet. You reach into your purse and pull out a small geode you bought the other day. “I brought your favorite!” Bones sits up excitedly with it's mouth wide open.

You can't remember exactly how you figured out Bones ate geodes, but you decide it doesn't really matter, especially since they’re a lot cheaper now, thanks to the Underground being absolutely full of them. You toss the geode into Bones’s open mouth, and watch as Bones happily crunches down on it. You go over to your fridge and pull out a microwavable Mac-n-cheese, and pop it in the microwave. After a few minutes, you take it out, grab a fork, and set yourself down in your reading chair as you pull out the book you bought at the bookstore.

You were genuinely surprised to actually be able to find it so fast, or even at all. The title of the book is 'Summoned Weapons For Beginners'. Now that you really think about it, summoning magical weapons must actually be pretty common for Monsters. You open your dinner and take a bite of the Mac-n-cheese before opening up the book. After flipping through it a while, you finally find a chapter on blasters. You also find that there are a lot of different kinds of blasters. Some shoot different kinds of lasers, some shoot only one kind, some of them even manifest themselves as a part of the caster's hands. However, you can't find any that look alive. Until the last page.

There is a sketch of a blaster, almost like what Bones originally looked like, but… terrifying. It is a giant dragon-like skull with no lights in its void black sockets, and two cracks in it, one above the right socket, and one below the left. It's jaw is unhinged in a lower sketch, and it is shooting a devastating blast. Something is odd about it's name. It just says 'Blaster'. The other blasters in the book all have a beginning part to them, like 'Floating Eye Blaster,' or 'Hand Blaster,' but there isn't another part to this one. Or rather, there is an empty space where there should be one, like it’s written in invisible ink. You decide to read the text below it.

'The Blaster, named for it's original user, Dr , is, of the blasters currently usable by Monster kind, the most powerful and devastating. The Blaster was artificially created in an attempt to make a device that could break through the barrier without having to use Human Souls, but to no avail. In an attempt to make sure no one else could steal the overpowered ability of the Blasters, Dr made it so the ability to use the blasters could only be attained through heredity. The only two other monsters that are known to be capable of using the Blasters are his two sons, Sans and Papyrus Serif, who attained their Lastname through their mother, Sevillana Serif. The worst damage a Blaster has been witnessed to be capable of, accidentally killed four Monsters, which consisted of three Scientists and one young passerby, and left Dr with almost fatal injuries that took a whole month of perpetual healing to finally fix. No one knows what happened to him after that point, or who he really was or what he looked like, since he seemed to disappear from existence. The only record there is of the Doctor's existence is the written records of him, and even then his name is missing throughout all of it. Records he seemingly wrote in his own hand are gone, and all we know about him today is from previous copies of this book and various typed records of his scientific discoveries. Because of this, there is no other discovered information about the blasters, and there most likely never will be.'

You drop the book on your lap with an exasperated sigh. You didn't find what you were looking for at all. You just got even more confused! Who was this scientist? Was he really Sans's and Papyrus's dad? What happened to him? Was their mom still alive? Are their blasters as strong as the Scientist's supposedly was? Did the Blaster cause him to cease to exist? Is Bones something that could actually happen, which is the one question you were actually looking for the answer to!! Bones jumps up on your lap and rests its snout on the book. It snorts a little, and a bit of text appears by its snout, right at the top of the page before Blaster. Your eyes widen as the word appears, and disappears just as quickly. 'Gaster Blaster'.


	4. Gaster

As you place the last drink on your platter to a particularly happy Monster, you hear the chime of the bell above the door, and a resounding “Sans!” going through the restaurant. However, as you turn around to greet him, a “Papyrus!” flows through as well. With genuine surprise, you watch as not only Sans, but also Papyrus walk through the restaurant to Sans's usual spot, and the spot to the right of it. Papyrus spots you and says your name, waving happily. And he's not the only one in a much cheerier mood. Sans's feelings seem to match his permanent smile, seeing as there's an extra spring in his step and has jokes out the wazoo, much to Papyrus's apparent annoyance.

“hey grillby,” Sans says, leaning a bit on the bar. “you know my tab that I haven't paid off in a while?” Grillby looks at Sans with his equivalent of an expression that says 'Nooo, I've never heard of this strange alien word before,’ in an extremely sarcastic tone. “heh, well…” Sans chuckles, reaching under his coat. He pulls out a fairly large brown bag that makes a metallic sound as he sets it on the bar counter. “i thought it'd be good if i'd pay it today. in the old currency i owed you. all 8,756 g, not converted to their current value.” Grillby looks like he was literally about to cry with joy.

You try remembering just what the convergence of 1 G to American dollars is, but you can't think of it. With a quick curiosity, you pull out your phone and look it up. You almost drop your phone in surprise. 1 G is worth $4,695.02 in US dollars. Meaning, 8,756 G would be worth… you need to put this on your calculator… it would be worth a whopping $41,109,595.12! No wonder Grillby was about to cry with joy! In fact, at that moment, he leans over the counter and gives Sans a big hug. You find yourself wondering how much the bag actually weighs. You look up that to do the math, and find yourself wondering how the hell anyone was able to lift that thing, and how it wasn't breaking the counter. Grillby attempts to gently scoot it off the counter without breaking or damaging anything, but to no avail.

“need help?” Sans asks. Grillby nods. Sans raises his hand, and it and the bag start to faintly glow a light blue. The bag lifts into the air, and gently sets itself down on the ground behind the bar. Well, that explains how Sans was able to hold it. After you've set down all the orders for customers, you walk over to Sans and Papyrus, who each have a drink. Sans obviously has ketchup, and Papyrus just has water.

“So, why'd you decide to come with Sans this time, Papyrus?” you ask, smiling a bit.

“OH, WELL, UH, SANS ASKED ME TO COME, AND I DIDN'T HAVE A GOOD ENOUGH EXCUSE NOT TO THIS TIME,” he says, holding his drink with both hands.

“riiiight,” Sans says, a little sarcastically. “and by i asked you, you deeeefinitely don't mean you asked to come.”

“SANS!” Papyrus says defiantly, a bit of orange dusting his bony cheeks.

“aw, come on, isn't it my job as your older bro to embarrass you?”

“WELL, YOU SEEM TO ENJOY SLACKING OFF FOR YOUR OTHER JOBS, SO WHY NOT THAT ONE!”

“Wait, Sans is the OLDER brother?” you ask, a little confused. Sans bursts out in laughter.

“yup!” he finally says. “by five years! my growth was a little stunned, but papyrus shot up like a beanstalk!”

“You don't say!” you chuckle. “And, well, whatever your real reason for coming, Papyrus, you should still come more often. Sans seems even happier than usual with you here!” You hear the bell above the door jingle, and you prepare to take the new customer’s order.

After about an hour, Sans and Papyrus finally get up to leave. Before they go, however, you remember you wanted to ask Sans some questions about the Gaster Blaster, and about the Doctor it was named after. You quickly tap on his shoulder.

“hm?” Sans says, turning around to face you. “what do you need?”

“After I'm done with work, I'd like to ask you a few questions regarding the blasters,” you say in a hushed tone. “And… about the guy they're named after. Gaster. Your dad, I think.”

Sans stares in surprised silence before asking, “how do you know that name?” Before you can answer, he says, “nevermind, just… call my number the minute you finish work.” His tone is hushed and dead serious. He pulls out a notepad and a pen and writes down his number, then gives it to you. “the minute you finish work,” he repeats, then leaves. You stuff his number in your pocket and get back to work, wondering if you said something wrong.

Hours pass, and you finally finish work. You wave goodbye to Grillby as you exit the front door. As you get in your car, you remember what Sans told you to do once you finished work. You pull out the number he wrote down for you and dial it on your phone. He almost immediately picks up.

“sans here,” he says over the phone.

“Hey, it's me,” you say. “You told me to call you after I finished work?”

“where are you right now?” he asks.

“Well, I just got in my car, so I'm still in the parking lot by Grillby's-”

“do you want me to meet you there or at your place?”

“Huh? Oh, um, I guess it’d probably be better for you to meet me at my place-”

“great. see you there.” He hangs up. A little confused, you tap the 'end call' button, and start up you car.

It's pretty dark out, and you almost don't see sans standing by the entrance to your apartment building. You park your car in your normal spot, and get out to meet up with him. He flips down his hood as you get closer to show he's definitely a skeleton, and not just a weird short guy wearing a hoodie and standing in front of your apartment building like a creep.

“Should we go inside before we start talking?” you ask. Sans nods, and you lead him inside and up to your apartment. As always, Bones is excited to see you the moment you walk in. You toss it a geode and lead Sans over to a chair as Bones crunches happily on it.

“it eats geodes?” Sans asks.

“Apparently,” you say. “Only thing it seems to want to eat. You want anything to eat or drink? I've got ketchup.”

“yeah, ketchup would be nice,” he says, sitting down. You grab a bottle of unopened ketchup, and a bottle of uncaffeinated ice tea. You hand Sans the ketchup as you sit down.

“thanks,” he says, taking the bottle. “so, before you start asking questions, i've got one of my own to ask.” He sits forward in his seat. “how. the hell. do you know his name.”

“Huh?” you say, unscrewing the cap off your ice tea. “You mean Gaster? I read it in a book.”

“how? that should be physically impossible.”

“Bones breathed on it, and his name just… appeared.”

“... you're telling me, that you have been able to do something that i have been trying to figure out how to do for twenty years, because your pet breathed on it?”

“I-... Twenty?” you ask, shocked. “How old are you?”

“i'm twenty-eight.”

“You've been trying to do this since you were eight?”

“ever since he disappeared, yes.”

“... He disappeared twenty years ago?

“in three months and four days, it will be exactly.”

“How do you remember this?”

“the same way i remember resets.”

“What do you mean by resets?”

“resets in time.”

“Wh-... Well how do you remember those?!”

“no clue. i just do. so does papyrus, but… he just thinks they're nightmares.”

“Well, does he remember Gaster, too?”

“no, he was too young to properly remember. he was only three at the time.”

“Oh… Were you raised by your mom then?”

“she died when papyrus was born. i had to raise him by myself.” You both fall silent. You never could have guessed that they were orphans, or that they never even got Foster parents. No wonder Sans's growth was stunted. He probably sacrificed his own health for Papyrus's. You break the silence again.

“There's a strange gem in Bones's sternum,” you say. “It looks kind of like a white upside down heart, and it glows whenever I touch it.”

“... it… it has a soul?” Bones sits down in front of both of you and proudly presents its chest. It's gem glitters a little in the light.

“Is it normal to look like a crystal?”

“for skeletons it is… i'm not so sure about other monsters, though.” Sans unzips his jacket and lifts up his shirt. A much larger version of the gem Bones has also lays imbedded in Sans's sternum. It's kind of cool and also kind of terrifying to watch. It's kind of weird how you forgot he's an actual skeleton with a spine and ribcage and absolutely no flesh at all. He puts his shirt back down and zips up his jacket again.

“Well, um, you also have the blasters, right?”

“yeah. what about it?”

“Well, are they as powerful as your dad's?”

“nope. nowhere near.”

“Have you ever used them to their full extent?”

“yeah, but they're pretty useless unless you've got extremely bad karma.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“i've got ‘karmic leech’. that pretty much means that the worse of a person you are, the more of your health my attacks will sap out. it's the only way i can actually have a fair chance in a fight.”

“Does Papyrus have it too?”

“nah. he doesn't need it. he's strong enough to do good on his own. strong enough to not die in one hit either.”

“... What…?”

“i'm so weak, stubbing my toe too hard could send me to the hospital, or worse.” He chuckles light-heartedly. Never a good sign.

“Well, are Papyrus's as strong as your dad's?”

“i don't plan on finding out anytime soon, seeing what happened to dad and four other monsters when he tried to find the limit. that was when i was about four, i think. i remember that it was before papyrus was born.”

“Ah, right.”

“don't tell me you know about that too.”

“I read it in the same book I read his name in.”

“did you use bones for that too?”

“I didn't have to. It's written right here for everyone to see.” You pick up your copy of 'Summoned Weapons For Beginners', flip to the last page, and hand it to Sans. He reads the page with intensity, then looks up from the book at Bones.

“so, it made the missing words appear by breathing on it?” he asks

“Yeah,” you say. “Wanna test it out?” You stand up and gently pick up Bones. You bring it over to Sans and place it on his lap, in front of the book.

“Okay Bones, blow on it.” Bones presses its face against the paper and breathes. The blanks fill themselves in. ‘Dr W. D. Gaster’ appears in one of them.

“holy stars…” Sans mumbles.

“What does W. D. stand for?” you ask.

“wingdings… wingdings gaster…”

“He was named Wingdings?”

“can i take you and bones somewhere for a bit? i need to test this on something else.”

“Uh, sure. I guess.” And with that, he immediately stands up, holding Bones, and grabs your arm. Before you know it, you're in an entirely different place. A small lab.

“Wha-... Where are we?” you stutter.

“the underground, in the secret lab behind my old house,” Sans says, rustling through some drawers. He pulls out some blank sheets of paper. “c’mere, bones. breathe on this.” He holds a paper up to Bones's snout. Bones breathes on the paper, and strange symbols appear on it. “holy stars it works,” Sans says breathlessly.

“What do those symbols mean?” you ask as the symbols disappear again.

“they're in his code,” he explains. “wingdings.”

“Wait, you mean he wrote on that?”

“yeah. i've got all his hand-written notes from when he first became the royal scientist to the day he disappeared. even his diary that he had kept since he was ten or something. i've never been able to read it until now, though.”

“Hey, um, do you know exactly why Bones became, well, alive?”

“yep. same thing happened with my dad and mom back when he first made the gaster blasters. it means whoever summoned the blaster wants to stay with you forever. that's why it's so loyal to you and has its own soul. it's actually made from papyrus's own soul and deepest desires. same happened to me too when i summoned my blaster in front of my girlfriend. that ended up being a fun date. and i don't even mean that sarcastically.” You feel your face get a little warm. It means he wants to stay with you forever. You lose your train of thought when Sans suddenly summons a Gaster Blaster. He makes it breathe on the page he's holding, but to no avail.

“Does your blaster not do the trick?” you ask.

“apparently not,” Sans sighs. “let's try as a blaster dragon. c'mon, let's go outside. this room isn't big enough for a full sized blaster dragon.” He de-summons the Blaster and opens the only door in the lab. A sudden rush of cold air catches you by surprise. It's spring on the surface, and you're wearing light clothes.

“H-how is it s-so c-cold?” you shiver.

“oh, shoot, sorry, i forgot things with flesh feel temperature change,” Sans says, taking off his coat. “yeah, we're in snowdin. it's always cold here. sorry, i forgot to mention that.” He hands you his coat. It strongly smells of ketchup, but it's not the worst thing something could smell like. A confused expression crosses your face as you watch Sans take off his slippers too, just before you remember your bare feet. You thank Sans and put both the coat and slippers on.

As you step out onto the snow, you find yourself filled with awe and wonder. The winter wonderland before you is like none you've ever seen. Light from an unknown source glistens off of the crisp snow, as snowflakes from the stone sky above drift slowly down to form a crisp new layer of ice. Sans leads you over to the front of the building you were just in the secret lab of. The house looks so big, so warm, so welcoming.

Sans stops in front of it and summons another Gaster Blaster. However, this time, he puts a little more magic into it, and it forms a giant skeletal Blaster Dragon. He holds the piece of paper up to the blaster's snout, and it lets out a huff of air. Nothing. Sans grumbles in frustration as he de-summons his Blaster Dragon. He notices you looking at the house.

“you like it, huh?” he asks. “that's where papyrus and i used to live. our dad, too.”

“Did you grow up here?” you ask.

“nah, we grew up in hotland,” he says. “dad moved us there after mom died. he told us she had always wanted to go there, so it'd be the perfect place to spread her dust. did it right by the core, too.”

“Hotland? Dust? Core? Sorry for being an ignorant human, but, what?” Sans let's out an amused sigh.

“it's fine. i'll try to explain. you see, when monsters die, their body turns to dust. their dust is then scattered over the things they live the most. however, it is frowned upon to sprinkle their dust upon their loved ones. hotland is one of the three regions of the underground. the other two regions are snowdin, and waterfall. the core is, well, the core of the underground. it's located inside hotland at used to be the place that provided power for the entire underground by converting geothermal energy into electrical energy to be used at a monster's convince.”

“Oh. Neat. Do you think you could bring me to the other places?”

Sans lets out a hearty laugh. “it's literally 10:45, and you probably have work tomorrow. not tonight. i should probably just bring you back to your apartment and be on my way.” You sigh and shrug, accepting that as a living being, you require sleep. Sans gently picks up Bones again, who has fallen asleep, and grabs onto your hand before teleporting into your apartment.

You return Sans's jacket and slippers, and say goodnight as he leaves. You let out a big yawn as you shuffle off to your bedroom. Old questions have been answered, new ones have been formed. However, one thought lingers in your mind as Bones gently climbs onto your stomach as you lie in bed, and clings onto your thoughts as you slowly drift to sleep:

‘Whoever summoned the blaster wants to stay with you forever. Papyrus summoned yours.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm kind of combining fanfictions, so to get Gaster's first half of his story, just read my Fanfic, "Child of Shadows".
> 
> Also, thank you again Alice for yet another suggestion I ended up using! It actually helped a LOT in writing these past two chapters! Anyone can feel free to add in your own suggestions. You never know if they'll actually help or not! (And thank you so much for your patience!)


	5. Father, Are You There?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaster makes an appearance, Sans is happy by this development, and you may or may not be a living telephone to the void.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so sorry for not updating in so long! I have been having serious trouble with writing for a while, and it's been hard coming up with what to write next. I really hope you like this chapter, and I also really hope not everyone who started reading this has given up on it quite yet!

It's been a week since Papyrus started coming to Grillby's regularly, and a week since your tour of the entire Underground began. Every day, Sans and Papyrus come in, and you talk to Papyrus in your free time. Every evening after work, Sans comes over to borrow you and Bones, and you spend an hour or so in the Underground, reappearing and translating Dr Gaster's notes. You've also started bringing a sandwich along, since you rarely eat before going down into the Underground. In the one week you've been doing this, you've learned so much about the Monsters’ history. You've learned about the War, the time before it, the events after it that very gradually lead to the Monsters becoming freed from the Underground. However, there were a few details that Sans has refused to elaborate on, such as the first child to fall, and the soulless creature that called itself ‘Flowey’. Though it was ridiculous to think so, it seemed as if these two beings had a negative effect towards him personally. His eyes always darkened to black sockets whenever he had to talk about one or the other or even both. But, well, you got a majority of the history of the Monsters. One evening, while passing through Waterfall, you notice a door in the wall that looks out of place.

“Hey Sans, where does this-” you say, but stop when you realize Sans isn't even there. Small thoughts echo in your head, not telling you to do anything, but… suggesting. Suggesting you open the door. Cautiously, glancing around, you move closer to the door. You carefully grab the handle and turn it. The door opens up to a small white room. In the center of the room, a large mass of semi-liquid black sits. It seems to be moving slightly, as if it's breathing. Against your better judgement, you step into the room, slowly approaching the mass of black goo.

“Um,” you say, unsure if what you're doing is wise. “H-hello?”

A part of the goo on the other side perks up. A round, white object lifts a little on the other side of the mass of goo, which now seems to be turning up at the bottom like solid smoke. The mass of goo begins to turn. You stumble back, terrified. The round white object seems to be a head, and it has finally turned all the way to face you. It's right eye socket is crescent shaped, and reminds you on a closed eye, while it's left eye socket has a dim light at the very center. The part where you assume the mouth sits is shaped like a carved smile, while two large cracks sit connecting the mouth to the bottom of the left eye socket, and the center of the right eye socket to the top of the head. Two skeletal-like hands with holes in the strangely solid centers of each come out of the goo. After a moment of contemplating whether or not to run, you realize that for some reason the dim light prick in the center of it's left eye socket is strangely familiar to you. It takes you another moment to realize that whatever this thing is, it's scared. Carefully, you step closer. You recognize the position of the cracks from a drawing of someone that Sans showed you. Trembling, you ask the simple question.

“... Are you… Dr. Gaster…?”

All of a sudden, the creature of black goo moves away from you and disappears. A piece of paper gently falls to the ground where the creature was. Curious, you go over to the piece of paper and pick it up. It's a picture of three skeletons: one-baby sized one with a tall and bright smile, one young child-sized one with a big smile and brilliant white eye specks, and an adult male sized one, wearing a labcoat, a gray turtleneck, and glasses, who had a giant hole in the solid center of his visible hand, and two cracks in his face, one of them connecting to the center of his crescent-shaped right socket.

You exit the room, still holding the picture. You hear the door slam behind you, but when you turn around to see what closed it, the door is gone. You hear Sans calling out for you, and you spot him around the corner.

“where’ve you been?” he asks, a mix of mild annoyance and mild amusement in his eyes.

“There was a door,” you say, pointing back to the now blank wall. “You disappeared after I saw it, so I went in.” You think for a moment, glancing at the picture in your hand again. “… I think I found your dad.” Sans’s eye lights turn to tiny pricks of light. You hold out the picture, and he practically runs up to you and snatches it out of your hand. His hands tremble as he stares at the picture.

“… h-how did you…” he stutters, pale blue liquid beginning to drip from his sockets, where his eye pricks are beginning to tremble and flicker.

“I think that whatever happened to him altered him a lot,” you say, a little quietly. “The… I feel like using the word ‘thing’ is insensitive and maybe somewhat racist, so, um, the ‘monster’ I got that from only vaguely looked like the adult in that picture.”

“what do you mean?”

“I mean that whoever or whatever I encountered in that room was literally made of black goo and some solid parts, like what I assume was a skull and hands.”

“i… how could…” Sans seemed lost in his thoughts. He’s trembling so much now that he looks like he could collapse at any second. Instead, he suddenly grabs onto your waist (so short) and hugs you tightly. “thank you,” he mumbles through sobs. You finally realize why he’s so emotional about this one picture. Twenty years. It’s been twenty years since he last saw his dad’s face.

The night after encountering Gaster, you have a strange dream. It starts off with a blinding light and a sense of falling, then it turns to pure darkness and a feeling of pure weightlessness. You call out for help, but nobody comes. You try to grab onto something, but there is nothing around you. You cry out again. You’re suddenly devoid of all senses. You can’t breathe, but you’re not suffocating. You stare at your hands. They’re made of bone, with solid bases where the fingers and wrists are attached. There are huge holes in them. You’re wearing a labcoat. It’s turning black. A picture floats out of your pocket. You’re suddenly filled with panic. Your sons. You try to grab the picture, not wanting it to float away. Your hand floats away from your arm. You’re melting. You reach the picture finally, grabbing it. The joints in your fingers have melted together. The only thing about your hand you can recognize is that awful hole. Your body has turned completely black. Your face won’t move. You’re terrified. You have to get out of here. You have to find your sons. Their mother… they’re all alone… you can’t… you can’t leave them alone…! You can’t leave them! You call out their names. Sans. Papyrus. You feel tears trickling from your sockets. You suddenly feel something that was once connected suddenly disconnect. You suddenly realize what that means. You, Doctor Wingdings Gaster, do not exist.

“Sans…” you whisper into the void, becoming one with the nothingness. “… Please… take care of your brother…”

You wake up with a start. You sit up in your bed, clutching your chest. Your heart is beating a mile a minute, and it feels like a sledgehammer pounding at the inside of your chest. You look over at the clock. 2:30 A.M. You sigh, rubbing your eyes. You look around the dark room. Bones is sleeping on top of you, unbothered by your sudden movement. You notice one of the corners in your room is much darker than the rest of them. You carefully and silently get out of bed, carefully sliding out from under Bones and being careful not to wake it. You quietly tiptoe over to the corner in your oversized T-shirt and baggy yoga pants that you use as pajamas, and you reach out to touch the strangely solid-looking darkness. You shiver as you feel something solid and slimy, but you don’t retract your hand. The darkness shivers back, then recoils. After a second or two, a strange white hand with a hole in the center emerges from the darkness. It cautiously touches your still-outstretched hand, flinches back, then touches it again, this time carefully grabbing onto it. It’s cold, like ice. You inhale shakily but slowly.

“… Doctor Wingdings Gaster?” you ask. The hand phases through yours, and it recoils back into the shadows.

His strange round head that almost doesn't look real here appears. Somehow, you get the feeling of him speaking to you, but you don’t hear a thing. You reach forward again to touch the side of his face. He suddenly recoils, terrified of your touch. He has no expressions and you cannot hear his words, but you know that he’s terrified and you know it's of your touch. How you know, may forever be a mystery. He has been deprived of feeling for twenty years. Those twenty years that seemed like a thousand to him. A single word echoes in your head as he suddenly vanishes. Core.

… You quickly go over to your phone and call Sans. He answers almost immediately. He was awake.

“sans here,” he says.

“I need you to take me to the core,” you tell him.

“why’s that?” he asks. “isn’t it, like, two or something in the morning?”

“Two fifty-six, and I just feel like I need to go to the core. I think something about your dad should be there.”

“where do you want me to meet you?” Sans says, his tone suddenly dead serious.

“In my apartment, the main room,” you say, going over to your dresser and pulling out a pair of clean pants and a shirt. “I’ll meet you in there once I’m dressed.”

You hang up and set your phone down, pulling off your makeshift pajamas and starting to get dressed. Bones has woken up, and is staring at you and tilting its head.

“You wanna come along, Bones?” you ask your magical bone dragon pet. It stands up, yawning. You assume that means yes.

You quickly slide on some sandals and you lift up your arm. Bones flies up and perches on your arm, then adjusts itself to be on your shoulders. It lies down there and falls asleep. You put your arm down and go over to the door, opening it. Sans is standing by the opposite wall, his arms crossed and his eye-pricks focused down on the ground. His permanent smile seems fake. The moment you exit your room, he looks up. He then wordlessly walks over to you, grabs your arm, and you both vanish.

You squint as you’re suddenly surrounded by light. You blink a few times as your eyes adjust, then look around. You see a dark figure at the end of a hall, silhouetted by the bright light behind it. It turns, then starts walking down another way. You quickly start following after, trying to reach the figure. Sans follows close behind, determined to know why you needed to come here. As you turn the corner in the direction the figure went, you just barely see the figure going through a hidden door on the far end of the hallway. You quickly run over to where the figure you saw go in, and you see a wall. You stare at it, trying to find a way to open the hidden door. Sans watches you curiously and with confusion, as you feel around the wall. You suddenly notice that one light among the rest on the wall looks slightly darker. You press the light, discovering that it’s actually a button. The section of the wall retracts and moves out of the way, revealing a secret passageway. Sans stares in disbelief and shock.

“how did you know that was there?” he asks. You merely shrug and enter the much darker area. You walk through dimly lit winding passageways, following footsteps only you can hear. The heat is becoming unbearable, but you try to ignore it.

You soon enter a huge room with a huge white circle in the center of the floor covered by glass. There is a large hole in the glass where something broke through. There aren’t any shards of glass around it. Whatever broke the glass fell through it on this side. The pricks of light in Sans’s eyes suddenly go out. He dashes over to the bright circle, kneeling beside the edge and staring at the break in the glass. There is a clipboard next to the hole, and a piece of white fabric hanging off of one of the sharp points. Sans gently levitates both the clipboard and the piece of fabric over to him, grasping both tight as he stares at them intensely. He lifts up the top piece of paper on the clipboard and looks under it. He starts to tremble. You look over his shoulder at the piece of paper under the first. It looks like a drawing in crayon of a family. The name “sans” is scrawled crookedly in the lower left hand corner. The s’s are backwards. Gaster was carrying that. He had dropped it as he fell. That piece of fabric must be a piece of his lab coat.

Gaster fell into the core.

A dark figure fades into view. It gently places a hand on Sans’s shoulder, but the hand phases through. The figure stares at his hand, which appears to have a hole in it. The silhouette of his sleeve looks like a piece tore off at some point. Your eyes well up with tears, but they only seem to come from your left eye. You reach up to wipe away your tears, but when you pull your hand away you find it dry.

Bones climbs off of your shoulders (you forgot it was there) and it jumps down to the floor. It walks over to the silhouetted figure and bites its coat. Surprised, the figure looks down at Bones. You walk over, noticing the fabric bones has latched onto has turned white. Bones whimpers, attracting the attention of Sans. He suddenly stands up, staring at the spot where Bones is tugging. He slowly reaches out and tries to grab a sleeve, but his hand phases right through. The figure looks disheartened. Sans pauses, then kneels down to Bones and tries to grab the fabric he can see. His hand doesn’t phase through this time.

“… dad…?” he asks quietly. The figure kneels down, petting Bones. His hand turns white where he touches Bones. An ethereal voice echoes through the room, though only you can hear.

'… I’m so sorry, Sans…' the voice echoes. '… I’m so so sorry… My eldest son… I’m sorry… I’m sorry, Sans… It was all my fault… It was my fault you were so alone… It was my fault you remember the resets… It was my fault she died… It was all my fault… I’m so sorry, son… I…'

The figure stops as he realizes his words cannot be heard by Sans. He then turns to you. You suddenly feel the pressure to be Gaster’s only line of communication to Sans. You sigh and nod.

“… I can hear him, Sans,” you tell Sans. Sans suddenly looks up at you. And now you feel even more pressure since more people are now expecting you to come through with being Gaster’s method of communication.

“well?” Sans says, melancholy impatience fueling the pricks of light in his sockets. “what’d he say?” You take a deep breath, and relay the message to the best of your ability.

For the next couple hours, you help Sans and his dad talk. The conversation only stops when you fall asleep (since it’s four or five in the morning). The next thing you know, you’re waking up fully dressed in your bed at 8:30 in the morning to the sound of your phone’s alarm. You’re bone tired (pun intended), and Bones seems to share your sentiment. You still decide to get up and get ready for work. Exhausted or not, you love working at Grillby’s, and you’d hate to skip a day of work there because you didn’t get enough sleep. Besides, if you don’t go to work today, you’ll have less of a chance of seeing Papyrus, since he seems to almost always be busy with something. You HAVE to get his daily schedule at some point.

You are suddenly met by Papyrus and Sans just outside your apartment building. You know already without Sans telling you. He told Papyrus about what happened. Judging by Papyrus's expression (which he can somehow have despite literally being a skeleton), he wants to speak with his father too. You look over at Sans, and he nods. You nod back. You then offer your arm, and Sans grabs hold. The three of you are now back in the room from last night (this morning?). The silhouette is still there. He's happy.

'Papyrus… you've grown so much…' he says, quietly. You relay the message. You quickly text Grillby, saying you don't think you'll be able to make it to work today. Somehow, this seems more important to you.


	6. Of Darkened Lights and Broken Bones

On your days off work, you’ve mostly been helping the skelebros talk to their long-lost technically-non-existent father. After one of said talks, you got Papyrus’s schedule. Or rather, he asked for yours. He also asked you if you like puzzles. Obviously, you had to answer truthfully. Your answer was you absolutely love puzzles of all kinds. Your heart almost couldn’t handle the precious sparkle of pure elation in his sockets after telling him that. That was just yesterday, so since today is a work day, you haven’t been able to hang out with him yet.

The work day starts out normal with everyone greeting when you come in. When you get near the bar is when the problem starts.

“Buddy, you’re literally insulting the main group this establishment caters to,” the duck monster that always sits at the bar who speaks for Grillby says to a drunk male human. “And the owner. I think you gotta leave.”

“Well, th’ flamin’ fffucker can tell me that ‘imself, can’t ‘e?” the drunk man slurs.

“Grilbz doesn’t talk much, so no, I don’t think he even really wants to,” the monster replies. She then turns to Grillby. “Hey Grillby, you wanna talk to this drunk bum?” Grillby flickers in a way you have come to learn as his way of saying no. “Well there you go. He doesn’t wanna talk to you.”

“What, so yer’ too good f’r me, eh?” the drunk man says. “Bah, all yous monsters are th’ same, takin’ up all th’ good jobs an’ actin’ like yer’ better than us.” He sounds strangely familiar, but you don’t exactly remember why. Well, regardless, you still start to walk up to him. This has to stop.

“……………………………………………………………… Get out,” Grillby said, surprising almost everyone around him, including you.

“An’ ‘e decides t’ speak!” the drunk man exclaims, swirling his glass of water.

“Buddy, you better actually get out,” the duck monster says. “Grillby barely EVER talks. If he’s talkin’ to you, then that means he is one hundred percent serious about this.”

“i’mma have to support that statement,” Sans says. Damn, you hadn’t actually noticed him there. His unmistakable blue coat should’ve made him super visible. “grilbz never talks if he doesn’t feel he absolutely has to. you seriously gotta leave. we don’t want anyone getting hurt.” The drunk man growls.

“I’ll show you hurt,” he mumbles, gripping his glass of water. Something in you clicks as he lifts it up and prepares to splash the water at Grillby. Grillby, who is made of fire. Water + Grillby = very very bad.

“NO DON’T!!” you exclaim, lunging forward as the man flings the water.

The next thing you hear is the sound of fire being doused, the sound of a glass breaking as you yank the man away from the bar, and a horrible smokey scream of pain like no other erupt from Grillby. People stand up quickly and exclaim with surprise and shock at the piercing sound Grillby had made. You see Sans hop over the counter and aid Grillby, who has fallen to the floor and is currently whimpering in pain. You finally look at the face of the man, and your blood goes cold. He’s your ex. He blinks a few times, then smiles.

“Well well well, ‘s been a while, eh?” he says.

“Get out of here, I’m calling the cops,” you hiss at him, doing your best to stay brave. You pull out your phone and pull up the call screen. He yanks the phone out of your hand and grabs your wrist.

“Nah, hon, that won’t be necessary,” he slurs, smiling lazily and staring at you with half-lidded eyes. “Look, I wan’ned t’ talk t’ ya, ‘n appologize f’r bein’ an asshole t’ ya.”

“Let me go!” you say, struggling to get out of his grip. His hold on you only tightens. It hurts.

“I’m jus’ tryin’ t’ apologize t’ ya!” he says, pulling you closer to him. “Please take me back, babe.”

“Don’t call me that, you… you…” you say, trying to come up with an insult.

“What, monster?” he chuckles. You slap him, stunning him.

“Don’t even DARE compare yourself to those wonderful kind people,” you hiss, yanking at your arm and trying to break free. Even when he’s stunned, he’s too strong.

Some of the dog monsters nearby get up, growling. The door suddenly opens and a bone flings at your ex’s head. He exclaims in pain and lets go of your wrist, also dropping your phone to the floor. You look over at the door, and stare. Papyrus stands there, gripping a large bone in his right hand, his eye sockets glowing bright orange with a furious rage. He lifts his hand and points his palm at your ex. He then suddenly swings his hand down. Your ex falls to the ground, turning slightly blue. You glance over at Sans on the other side of you with Grillby, and you see he’s holding his cellphone in one of his trembling hands.

‘He must’ve called Papyrus,’ you think to yourself. When you turn back to look at Papyrus, he has marched up to your ex and has now lifted him up by the collar.

“WE MAY BE CALLED MONSTERS, BUT YOU ARE THE REAL MONSTER,” he says, his glowing sockets overflowing with bright orange anger. “YOU ARE TO NEVER RETURN HERE EVER AGAIN, YOU ARE TO NEVER HARM ANY MONSTERS AGAIN, YOU ARE TO NEVER SHOW YOUR UGLY DRUNK FACE TO HER EVER AGAIN.” He gestures to you. Your ex looks like he wants to make a retort, but he also looks like he’s about to wet himself. Another person bursts through the door.

“Police!!!” the one-eyed angry fish-woman that just entered shouts. She then stares at Papyrus in surprise as he brings your ex over to her.

“THIS MAN ASSAULTED GRILLBY AND HURT HER,” he says, gesturing to you. You lift up your wrist a bit, rubbing the large bruise that has formed. “SANS CALLED ME HERE TO HELP GRILLBY. PLEASE MAKE SURE THIS MAN IS NOT LET OFF EASY, UNDYNE.” The fish woman (whom you assume is named Undyne) blinks a few times, then sighs and nods.

“I’ll make sure of it,” she says. You notice she has an eyepatch over her left eye. She takes a pair of handcuffs off of her belt and she turns your ex around, handcuffing his hands behind his back. “You are under arrest for the unprovoked assault of a human waitress and the unprovoked assault and life endangerment of a monster bartender. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you in court.” She walks him out of the restaurant.

Within minutes, almost everyone has cleared out of the building. All that remain inside are you, Sans, Papyrus, and of course, Grillby. Sans helps Grillby up, and you finally see the full extent of the damage done. The whole left side of Grillby’s face has been doused, and bits of the charred black base beneath where his flames were are crumbling away.

“hurry pap, he’s dusting!” Sans says, carefully hurrying Grillby over to Papyrus. Without missing a beat, Papyrus takes off both of his gloves and presses his bony hands on either side of Grillby’s face. His hands glow a faint orange. Cracks in Grillby’s black base begin to glow a bright red-orange, and he seems to be in significantly less pain. After a minute or two, Papyrus takes away his hands.

“ALRIGHT, THAT’S ALL I CAN DO HERE,” he says, putting his gloves back on. “SANS, TAKE HIM TO THE NEAREST HOSPITAL THAT TREATS MONSTERS. MAKE SURE HE GETS TREATMENT QUICKLY. HE’LL NEED AT LEAST A NIGHT OF REST AND REKINDLING.” Sans nods, then he and Grillby vanish. Papyrus then turns to you. “ARE YOU ALRIGHT, HUMAN?”

“Yeah…” you say, rubbing your bruised wrist.

“MAY I?” he asks, starting to take a glove off again. He looks exhausted, and his voice seems a little quieter than usual. You shake your head.

“Thanks, but I’ll live,” you say, giving Papyrus a little smile. “It’s just a bruise, I’ll be alright.” You think for a moment, then your smile disappears. “… Does “dusting” mean what I think it means for monsters…?” you ask, a little quietly. Papyrus solemnly nods.

“… WE USUALLY JUST SAY THEY’VE “FALLEN DOWN,” BUT I GUESS THE REALISM YOU HUMANS SEEM TO ENJOY USING EVERYWHERE HAS GOTTEN TO SOME MONSTERS…” he says sadly.

“Do you think Grillby will be okay?” you ask.

“WELL, AS LONG AS HE IS TREATED BY SOMEONE WHO KNOWS HOW TO TREAT MONSTERS,” he sighs. “IF THAT SHALL BE THE CASE, THEN YES, I THINK HE WILL BE OKAY.” After a few moments of silence, you hug Papyrus. Despite being a skeleton, he’s surprisingly comfortable to hug.

“… Thank you, Papyrus,” you say, your face buried in his chest. It occurs to you that he’s really fucking tall, which makes Sans’s height a lot funnier and sadder at the same time.

After a few moments, you feel his bony arms slowly wrap around you. You glance up, and notice his cheekbones are kinda orange. You sorta forgot that’s how skeletons blush. You smile a little and bury your face in his chest again.

_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-

You sit alone at home, Bones on your lap, a good book in your hands. You gently pet Bones’s head, listening to it purring as you read your book. You suddenly stop and look down at Bones as it starts whimpering. You set down your book and lift Bones up, inspecting it. Its front right leg falls off, startling you. Your first immediate thought is that Bones is dying, then you see the soul-gem on its sternum is glowing a feint orange. Your second immediate thought is that something is wrong with Papyrus. You pick up Bones’s leg and try to reattach it to Bones. It’s not working. Bones’s eye lights start glowing orange, and it continues to whimper. You pick up bones, slide on your sandals, then leave your apartment.

“Tell me where to go, Bones,” you say once you’re outside the building. Some humans nearby give you strange looks, but you ignore them.

Bones points its snout in a direction, and you go that way. You don’t actually know if Bones knows where Papyrus is, but you feel you should just trust the magical tiny skeleton dragon that is probably connected to the magical tall skeleton man that created it.

You walk quickly for a long while, Bones guiding you the whole way. The longer you walk, the worse Bones gets. At one point, the leg that fell off of Bones even snaps right in half at its equivalent of the ulna in a human skeleton. That’s when you find out it can feel pain, even if the hurt limb isn’t even connected to it. You know, because it screams in pain. You break out into a run, continuing to follow Bones’s directions.

You reach a park. There’s a skeletal arm on the ground. It’s broken at the ulna. The hand has a red glove on it. It’s still twitching a little. You quickly pick it up, carefully stuffing Bones’s leg into your pocket and placing Bones on your shoulders and holding the two pieces of broken bone on the arm together. You hear a crack by your ear. One of Bones’s ribs has broken. The break is uncomfortably close to its sternum. You sprint in the direction Bones points you in next. You soon come across a small group of people kicking someone on the ground. You can barely see a skeleton huddled over something blue in between the kicking people. You’re suddenly filled with an anger like no other. You set Bones and the arm down gently, then you pick up a rock and throw it as hard as you can. It hits one of the people right in the head. The person shouts in pain and the others stop to look at them. They all then turn to you. You pick up a few more rocks.

“Get away from him, you brainless pieces of worthless garbage!!!” you exclaim. You throw the two rocks you’ve got at them. The group makes its way over to you.

Panicking, you pick up one of a few stray bones you find lying around and you grip it like a baseball bat. You assume the bones are from Papyrus (or Sans?) defending himself. You also can’t help but wonder why he stopped protecting himself. Your train of thought is cut short when one of the members of the group of thugs picks up a bone as well and swings it at your head. You quickly dodge, trying to swing the large bone you have at the guy’s legs. You feel it connect, and you hear a cry of pain above you. You exclaim in pain as you feel a hard boot connect with your back, and you fall over. You swing the bone around blindly, trying to hit something. You feel the bone yanked away from you as the group surrounds you and starts kicking you. You suddenly hear an animalistic cry, then the sound of a laser beam. You then hear yelling and cursing and heavy footsteps as the group runs away. You slowly get up, bruised and maybe concussed, and you head over to Papyrus without another moment of hesitation.

He’s still hunched over something, but you can now see what that “something” actually is. Sans is very still beneath Papyrus, uncomfortably so. You realize Papyrus is healing him with his one available gloveless hand, which tells you why he wasn’t fighting back. You remember what Sans had told you when you learned he and Papyrus were orphans. Even stubbing his toe could hospitalize him. Papyrus is trying to save his brother’s life. Bones brings Papyrus’s broken arm over to him and helps him reattach it. Despite the broken state of his arm, Papyrus bears through the pain and pulls off his other glove and heals Sans with both hands. You notice a little bit of dust on Sans’s coat. You quickly pull out your phone, and dial 911.

Within minutes of your call, the first officer parkours into view. It’s the fish woman from earlier, Undyne. She dashes over to Sans and Papyrus and pulls out what looks like a green juicebox.

“Can he drink?” she asks Papyrus.

“… he’s not moving…” Papyrus says, unnervingly quietly.

“Can you help me make him drink at least?” Undyne asks, kneeling next to Papyrus and placing a hand on his shoulder. “He needs something at the very least. If we need any extreme measures, I can get Alphys to inject him with a controlled amount of D.T.”

Papyrus remains silent. His energy seems to be running out, since the orange glow coming from his hands seems to be fading.

“… Drink the Sea Tea, Papyrus,” Undyne says, offering Papyrus the juicebox. “If you’re gonna be healing him constantly, you need the energy.” Papyrus sighs, sitting up and nodding.

You watch as Undyne helps him drink the “Sea Tea,” which ends up looking extremely strange. You then watch with awe as his broken arm suddenly fixes itself, and his orange glow suddenly brighten considerably. Bones’s broken front leg also mends, and so does its broken rib and several other small fractures. Whatever that weird “Tea” stuff is, it MUST be magical.

Several minutes later, an ambulance and some police cars arrive. Some paramedics, both monster and human, help Papyrus (cradling Sans) into the ambulance. A few police officers, mostly human ones, come to you and ask what had happened. You explain what you saw and what you did to help, and you try to describe the people who attacked to the best of your ability. After a while, Undyne approaches you and the rest of the officers questioning you leave.

“You did a brave thing here,” she said, looking at you directly in the eyes. “Kinda stupid, but brave, and ultimately something that possibly saved Papyrus’s life at least. We’re hoping Sans too, but we really don’t know just yet. And if I’m being honest here… I don’t really think Sans is strong enough to last through this.” She looks down, crossing her arms.

“… Is there something I can do to help…?” you find yourself asking. Undyne chuckles.

“You’ve already helped a lot, which is pretty obvious by your excessive number of bruises and the fact that Papyrus is alive,” she says, smiling slightly. “Unless you can find whatever powerful monster made those two, especially Papyrus, I don’t think there’s really much more you can do.”

“Well… what if I do find him?” you ask, thinking of Dr. Gaster.

“It’s not gonna happen,” Undyne sighs. “The only person who has “claimed” to see them is the ambassador of monsters, and they’re probably not going to be able to do anything about getting them back anytime soon.” Your eyes widen a bit.

“The ambassador of monsters saw him?” you ask. Undyne lifts an eyebrow.

“Yeah, or at least something that kind of looked like a monster nobody knew about,” she responds. “I guess you could ask them about what they know, but I doubt you’ll get much info, especially if you don’t know sign language.”

“… If you don’t mind me asking… where does the ambassador live?” you ask.


	7. Child's Play

You knock on the front door, and wait. After a few moments, a large and friendly goat monster opens the door.

“Oh hello!” she says, smiling as she looks down at you. “What brings you to our humble home?”

“Um, I heard the Ambassador of Monsters lives here…?” you ask, a little tiny bit intimidated by her. “Uh… are… are you them…?”

“Ohoho my no,” the monster laughs. “I am merely their mother, Toriel. Frisk is inside. Might I ask why you are looking for them?”

“I just really need to talk to them,” you say, fiddling with your sleeves. How old even is the Ambassador to be living with their mother? “It’s a life-or-death situation.” Toriel gasps.

“Oh dear!” she says, suddenly looking worried. “Who is in danger of dying?”

“A skeleton named Sans,” you explain. Toriel looks like her heart just stopped. She then grabs your arm and pulls you inside.

“I’m going to have to trust you for a little while, so you better not break this trust,” she says, looking you directly in the eyes. “I need you to look after Frisk for a while. You can talk to them all you want, just make sure they don’t get into trouble. I have to go out for a while to check on Sans. Do you know where he is?” You tell her the name of the hospital. She nods, thanks you, then hurries out the door.

You feel a small hand tugging on the bottom of your shirt once Toriel leaves. You look down at a small human child who could be no more than ten. You… you honestly can’t tell what this kid’s gender is.

“Hey there,” you say, waving a bit. “… You don’t happen to be Frisk… do you?” The child nods, then tries saying something to you in sign language. This child… this SMALL HUMAN CHILD is the AMBASSADOR of ALL MONSTERS. After a minute or two, they realize you can’t understand them. They then bring you over to a large table, sit you down at a chair, leave for a bit, then come back with some paper and some crayons. They sit next to you and start writing.

‘Hi! My name is Frisk!’ they write. ‘I heard you talking about me to my Mom. What do you need?’

“Um, Undyne told me you saw a monster nobody else knew about?” you say questioningly.

‘Do you mean the Doctor?’ they write. ‘Yeah, I’ve seen him a lot of times. Nobody remembers him though. For a while, I reset over and over again so I could see him more. I found it really interesting how he remembered every single time.’

“Reset…?” you ask, remembering both Sans and Gaster talking about remembering resets.

‘Oh, whoops, I forgot I’m not supposed to tell anyone about that.’ They scribble out the previous two sentences. ‘Anyways, I know Dr Gaster and he knows me. Why do you ask about him? Did you see him too?’

“Yeah, actually. I saw him. Met him personally, actually. I actually came here to ask you if you knew how to, well, bring him back to existence…” You pause for a moment, thinking over your words and realizing you’re talking to a mute child writing on paper in crayon. “… Nevermind, I guess it was really a stupid idea anyways…”

‘It’s kinda simple, actually!’ Frisk writes. ‘I just need to hack into the code and program him back in!’

“… Sorry, what?”

‘I only haven’t done it before because it’s super dangerous if I mess up, and I could accidentally let out something that’s supposed to stay in the void or accidentally delete someone.’

“How old are you?”

‘I’m eight and a half! Though, if I’m being honest here, adding all the extra time, I’m about thirteen.’

“Extra time?”

‘Oops, well, I guess I have to tell you now. I have the ability to reset time to a certain point where I “saved,” like in a video game! Adding to that, I can hack into the universes “code” and change whatever I want, though it’s very risky. I was able to erase some bad stuff I did from existence because I felt super duper bad about it and Chara wouldn’t let me undo it normally. But Gaster technically doesn’t even exist, so he’s not even in the code. This isn’t like changing LV or erasing data, this is adding in a whole different being. I might have a better chance if I was able to literally pull him out of the void, but since he fell into the core, I doubt I’d be able to do that since he fell pretty far down into the c’

They suddenly stop writing. Frisk quickly gets up and runs off. You consider following after, but you decide against it. Moments later, they return with a long rope. They go back to their seat and move aside filled papers so they can write on fresh ones.

‘Toriel used this to help get monsters who were stuck down low out so that they could get to the surface.’ they wrote. ‘It might be long enough, but I’m not sure. I don’t even know if the rope will survive the trip into the center of the core. But since Gaster mostly survived, I’d probably be fine. Humans ARE made of sturdier stuff than monsters, after all.’

“Oh no, I am NOT dangling you into the core from a rope,” you say.

‘It’s alright, I’ll just call my mom and tell her I’m showing you around the underground!’ they write.

“But, aren’t you mute?” you ask. “How can you talk on the phone?”

‘Morse code, duh!’ they scribble down, giggling silently. ‘Or I could text her. In fact, I’m gonna do that now!’

Before you can protest, Frisk pulls their phone out of their pocket and starts texting Toriel. After a minute or two, you hear Frisk’s phone make a notification sound. They read the text, then smile. They then get up and gesture to you to follow them. You sigh and do so, seriously not wanting to endanger this extremely important small child. They also then grab the rope and somehow stuff the whole thing into their pocket. It doesn’t even look like there’s anything in their pocket. All you can think of is “hammerspace.”

Frisk leads you out of the house, out of the neighborhood, and even out of the town. It takes significantly less time than you thought it’d be. They start leading you up a mountain, up a long and twisting path, all the way up to a huge entrance. It finally occurs to you that this must be the exit to the underground, where all the monsters were trapped until just recently. They lead you inside and through the underground castle. They soon bring you to a strange gray area, then to an elevator. After maybe an hour of walking and going through a couple elevators, you finally reach the core. Then you start leading the way. You eventually get to the place where you remember the secret entrance being. You lead Frisk through the winding path, then finally into the room where Gaster fell.

Frisk runs over to the bright circle in the center of the floor, and pulls out the rope. They lower an end of the rope through the hole to test the safety. You already don’t feel safe with Frisk so close to the hole. After a minute or two, they pull the rope back up. It appears to be undamaged, and just as long as it always was. Frisk then ties the rope around themself and offers you the other end.

“I’m not lowering you down into there,” you say, shaking your head.

Frisk huffs, untying the rope from around their waist. They then lower the rope again, a lot farther this time. After about a minute or two, they gasp and the rope slides out of their hands a little. You quickly dive down to help them, grabbing the end of the rope as well. There’s something heavy on the other end. You and Frisk both pull as hard as you can, pulling up whatever has grabbed onto the rope. You soon see a young child on the end, one maybe about the same age as Frisk. They’re wearing a green shirt with one cream colored stripe on it, and their hair is a lighter shade of brown than Frisk’s is. They look up at you and Frisk with a creepy sadistic looking smile that sends chills down your spine, their eyes almost glowing red.

“Hiya, Frisk,” the terrifying child says. “Did'ja miss your old pal Chara?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the really short chapter. The next one's gonna be longer, I promise. Also, there's gonna be some surprising stuff that you may not expect! Or maybe it'll be completely predictable. Oh well, regardless, I hope you like the next one when I finish it!


	8. Family Reunion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I promised, long chapter this time. Or, well, at least I think it's long this time. I hope you like it!

You and Frisk stare silently at the demonic child crawling up out of the Core.

“What’s the matter, Frisk?” Chara giggles, never taking their almost-glowing red eyes off of them. “Do I bring back bad memories of your old self? Or are you just that excited to see me again-”

Frisk places their hand in Chara’s face and shoves backward, leaving an extreme impression of ‘NOPE.’ Chara falls back into the Core, screeching. You stare at Frisk with surprise and shock. Without missing a beat, Frisk throws the rope back down. Chara is pulled up again.

“What the hell?!” they exclaim. “Jesus, Frisk, I thought you were being a pacifist this time ‘round!”

Frisk signs something to Chara.

“Ouch, that’s not something to say to your old friend,” Chara responds jokingly. Frisk flips them off.

“Sorry, but WHAT is going on?!” you finally ask.

“I’m Frisk’s closest friend!” Chara says, turning to you. Frisk also turns to you and shakes their head.

“Alright then, Frisk, WHAT is the terrible thing that happened with you and this child?” you ask, immediately afterwards remembering you don’t know sign language.

Frisk starts signing something, then also remembers your ignorance. Chara offers to translate, but Frisk refuses their help. They then pull some more rope out of their pocket and tie up the struggling Chara, then they reach into Chara’s pocket and pull out a dusty looking knife. They put the knife in their own pocket, then shove Chara into a corner and let the rope back down. Chara struggles, curses, and screams in frustration as they try to escape and get their dusty knife back. Then it hits you. Monsters turn into dust when they die. This child is a murderer.

You and Frisk wait a long while, trying to basically fish for Gaster. At some points it kinda feels like something is trying to grab hold, but nothing actually tugs on it. After about an hour, Frisk gives up and tries to pull up the rope so they can tie themself to it again. The rope won’t budge. You tug on it a bit with Frisk. It won’t move at all. You decide to try to pull with all your weight, and Frisk does the same. It feels as if there’s a thousand-pound weight on the other end of the rope. You and Frisk spend a whole ten minutes getting a foot of the rope out of the core before a huge part of the weight suddenly disappears and you both suddenly fall back. You both then get back up and pull up on the rope.

On the end is a huge black amorphous blob, about the size of an adult human. You both set the gooey black blob on the ground, then both watch in surprise as the goo starts to evaporate. Beneath it, a white coat is exposed. Then a bony hand. Then a cracked skull. Then pants, then shoes, then a gray turtleneck, then a pair of glasses laying on the ground next to the skeletal person laying on his side, unconscious. Frisk kneels down and pokes the unconscious skeleton’s head. There’s no reaction. You suddenly remember Bones’s soul. You roll the skeleton onto his back and unbutton his lab coat, then lift up his shirt. The upside down white heart gem in his sternum is cracked, and the cracks are filled with a black goo. You try to wipe some of it away. The goo and cracks disappear, and the gem glows faintly. A slight purple aura appears around the soul gem, and it glows brighter. Dr Gaster’s hand twitches. You pull his shirt back down as his left eye socket starts to open. He winces as he tries to sit up. Frisk helps him, which confuses him. It takes him a couple seconds to assess his surroundings and process everything. He then looks up at you, the white prick of light in his one usable socket staring directly into your eyes.

“… Am I…?” he asks quietly. He then quickly turns his head to Frisk, who is currently sitting at his side. Frisk smiles and nods.

Gaster turns back to you and stares again, as if he can’t process the things he’s seeing and feeling. Water starts trickling from his socket, and he begins to shake. You offer a hand to help him up. He takes your hand, his bones surprisingly cold, like he’s been in a freezer this whole time. You pull him up, helping him keep balance as his legs almost give way under him. It’s fairly unsurprising, seeing as he just spent twenty or so years in what you assume was a weightless darkness in which he had very little interaction with literally anything. Chara then ruins the moment.

“Oh so you try to help the CREEPY SKELETON monster, but not the MISUNDERSTOOD HUMAN?!” they exclaim. “Oh yeah, just SHOVE ME BACK INTO THE VOID why don’t you. No need to WORRY about the ABUSED CHILD!” You, Gaster, and Frisk all look at Chara with a mixture of confusion and annoyance. Frisk then pulls Chara’s dusty knife out of their pocket and shows it to Gaster.

“Yeah, I know,” Gaster sighs. “I saw enough pieces of the resets.” Frisk winces, then looks extremely guilty.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but is somebody going to fill me in on Frisk’s grievance with this terrifying child?” you ask. Frisk shrugs then goes over to Chara, grabbing them by the back of their shirt and dragging them back towards the hole.

“DON’T YOU DARE, FRISK!!” Chara screeches. “I’M SUPPOSED TO OWN YOUR SOUL!! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO DO WHAT I SAY!!! I’M SUPPOSED TO CONTROL YOUR STUPID BODY!!!!!” Frisk throws Chara back into the Core, then they go over to a corner and lie down in it and cry. You are immediately filled with concern.

“Do you think you can stand on your own?” you ask Gaster.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” he assures you, nodding. The moment you let go, he starts to fall.

“Screw it,” you say, sighing as you catch him, “You’re coming with me to comfort the ambassador.” You walk over to Frisk, carefully balancing Gaster along the way. Once you reach them, you gently set Gaster down and kneel next to Frisk.

You gently sit Frisk up and put them in your lap, rubbing their head comfortingly. You use your sleeve to wipe away some of their tears as you try to calm them down. Then they do something that surprises you.

“… i want to see sans…” they whisper almost inaudibly. You suddenly remember why you needed Gaster in the first place.

“Me too,” you say, wiping away the rest of Frisk’s tears. “Let’s go see him now, shall we?” Frisk nods, and stands up from your lap. You look over and see Gaster has also managed to stand up on his own, albeit wobbly. You stand up and take Frisk’s left hand and Gaster’s right hand, then start on your way to leave the underground.

After a while of going through the last part of the underground to reach the exit, Gaster starts walking just fine on his own. Then he starts walking a bit faster than you and Frisk. Then he starts jogging. Then running. He kicks off the walls to make tight turns, elated and excited to have legs again, you suppose. Once you finally catch up to him, all three of you are outside. Gaster stares at the now starry sky, filled with an awe you never thought would be expressible on a skeleton. You can almost feel the pure elation emanating from him. You feel Frisk’s grip on your hand tighten. You look down at them and see they’re impatiently worried. You sigh, and tap Gaster on the shoulder. He looks over at you.

“We really gotta go, Sans needs you,” you say seriously. His awe is suddenly replaced by fatherly affection and a slight sense of dread. He nods, and gestures for you to lead the way. This makes sense to you, since he probably hasn’t ever seen the surface before.

You walk for what feels like an hour, picking up Frisk and carrying them halfway through because they had started falling asleep. You eventually get to the hospital. The moment Gaster realizes you’re actually going to the hospital, you can feel the absolute dread emanate from his body. You almost don’t notice as he speedwalks ahead of you and quickly to the front desk. You follow quickly after him, doing your best to not wake Frisk just yet. Gaster frantically asks the human woman at the front desk about Sans Serif, explaining that he’s a relative. The woman then tells him the room Sans is in (albeit distastefully), and he starts moving straight towards said room as fast as he can walk. You move quickly after him, accidentally jostling Frisk awake. They hold onto you tighter as you start to run to try to keep up with him. He eventually stops at a door that several monster doctors stand around. He clears his throat(?), catching their attention.

“I need to see my son,” he says, his voice clear and full of purpose. The doctors stare at him silently with awe, then quickly let him in.

“Hey,” you pant as you get to the doctors. “We’re with him.” You gesture over to Gaster as you set Frisk down.

“What’s your relation to the patient?” one of the doctors asks. Frisk signs something. The doctor nods, and lets both of you in. You SERIOUSLY feel like you need to learn sign language.

Once inside the room, you stop and stare. Papyrus has fallen asleep at Sans’s side, Toriel is holding Sans’s hand and staring at Dr Gaster, and Gaster has his hand down Sans’s shirt, his hand likely directly over his soul. Gaster’s eye socket glows a bright purple, powerful magic flowing all around him. The cracks in Sans’s skull that you can see from where you are fade away as Sans is also surrounded by that magic. Papyrus wakes up and stares at Gaster and Sans, then looks over at you for a moment in bewilderment before looking back over at his father and brother. Frisk leaves your side and runs over to Toriel, hugging her tightly when they reach her. The magic soon fades, and Dr Gaster collapses. You quickly run over, trying to help him up.

“Thank you…” he mumbles to you, trembling slightly. You can tell he’s weak. He looks up at Papyrus and smiles softly (which still amazes you, since he’s a frickin’ skeleton with a SKULL for a face). Papyrus just stares silently, seemingly unsure of what to think or say.

“… Doctor Wingdings…?” Toriel asks, staring down at Gaster. He looks up.

“Good evening, your majesty,” he mumbles. “It has been quite a long while.” Papyrus suddenly stands up, walks around Sans’s bed, takes Gaster from you and hugs him tightly, all within the span of two seconds. This, of course, surprises everyone. A few seconds later, Sans stirs.

You and everyone else look over at Sans as he moves. He grumbles a little, then slowly sits up.

“SANS!!” Papyrus exclaims, tears beginning to drip from his sockets again. Sans doesn’t even have time to look over at Papyrus before he’s suddenly takled by said brother. You catch Gaster as he falls from Papyrus’s embrace.

“Oh thank goodness!” Toriel exclaims, wiping away a few of her tears. Frisk goes up to the side of Sans’s bed and pats his leg to get his attention.

“hey, uh, papyrus?” Sans mumbles. “you’re uh, kinda crushing me.” Papyrus lets go, sniffing and wiping away a few of his tears. Sans then looks over at Frisk. They sign something to Sans, and he chuckles quietly. “nice to see you too, kiddo,” he says.

“SANS!” Papyrus exclaims, holding up Gaster with you. “LOOK WHO THE HUMANS BROUGHT!! HE SHARED HIS SOUL WITH YOU TO HEAL YOU!!”

‘So that’s what all that was,’ you think to yourself.

Sans looks over at Gaster, and his permanant smile melts into a look of pure surprise and shock.

“… dad…?” he says, half-whispering. Gaster chuckles lightly and nods.

“Sorry I’m home late,” Gaster jokes, “I got caught up with work.” Sans lunges towards Gaster and holds him tight, shaking slightly. Papyrus joins in on the hug. You, Frisk, and Toriel all just watch happily as the skeletons are reunited.

“… welcome home, dad,” Sans mumbles.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You thought it was Chara, BUT IT WAS I! DIO!  
> I mean Gaster.  
> There was no Dio involved.


End file.
